


Out of Commission

by Sectanza



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Blindness, Chronic Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17295359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sectanza/pseuds/Sectanza
Summary: After being trapped in the Deep Sea Metro for three years, Agent 3--Darwin--has finally escaped alongside Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8, but not without losing something along the way. Rendered blind and disfigured by Commander Tartar, he imagines things can't possibly can't any worse, and spends the night in a hotel with Agent 1 to talk until he's ready to go home in the morning. Of course, though, with 3's so-called "luck", things do get worse, and he hears those three words he was hoping he'd never have to hear.





	Out of Commission

The first red flag he failed to notice was the newfound pain that came with cold nights like this. Darwin ordinarily loved the cold, even able to find at least some sort of comfort in the bone-chilling temperatures of the Metro; now, though, he just wanted to curl up in a load of blankets and die. After stepping into the hotel room and tossing the large stick he’d found on the walk to Inkopolis Square onto the floor, that’s exactly what he did (minus the “die” part, of course, much to his dismay) after feeling around the room to find the nearest bed.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so upset,” Callie softly commented as she pulled off her beanie and sunglasses.  
“What, is it unnatural for people to be upset when their entire lifestyle changes?”  
“I doubt your entire lifestyle has changed--”  
“Tell me how I’m supposed to play Turf War blind, then, o’ wise one.”  
“Plenty of ‘pods play Turf blind, 3!”  
“Name one person.”  
“Well, there’s… Um…” She paused in taking her hair down out of its bun to think, but drew a blank pretty quickly, and resumed. “Okay, so I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s a lot!”  
Agent 3 just responded with a roll of his eyes and a sarcastic ‘mhm’ before pulling the blankets tighter around his body. “Can’t play video games either.”  
“I thought you only played Squid Beatz.”  
“Okay, for one, rude, I play way more than Squid Beatz. For two, that may be a rhythm game, but I still need to be able to see what buttons I’m supposed to press.”  
“Well I don’t know what to tell you, 3,” Callie sighed as she sat down on the corner of the bed, “what do you want me to tell you?”  
“I want somebody to tell me this is all some shitty fever dream, or that I’ve been in a coma for the past three years. I want somebody to tell me that everything’s fine, but I already know it’s not gonna happen.”  
“Then quit moping. Life sucks, yeah, but there’s no reason to dwell on it, right? Try to find the bright side.”  
“Callie, what the actual fuck is the bright side to being blind?”  
“Your other senses will get better since you’ll rely on them more.”  
“I’d rather be able to use my eyes.”  
“Sometimes I swear you’re really just a brick wall in a jacket,” Callie mumbled under her breath with a shake of her head, “3, I know it sucks, but you can’t use your eyes. Take what you can get.”  
“What I can get sucks. Do my eyes have a receipt?”  
She responded with a bit of a laugh. “I wish, dude. I’d trade my eyes in for a sick pair of sunglasses in a heartbeat.”  
“Ironic.”  
Silence hung in the room for a while, as neither of them seemed to know what to talk about. Darwin was actually starting to feel a bit sick to his stomach; he thought nothing of it formerly, though.  
“Do you think they’ll be mad at me?” 3 eventually questioned to break the silence.  
“What?”  
“My mom, and my brother. I’ve been gone for three years, I never told them about any of this before I got called down to help Cap’n; they still think I’m just a cosplay nerd. Do you think they’ll be angry when I come back home?”  
“I don’t know about your mom, but has Marie not broken the news to you yet? About your brother?”  
Darwin snapped up into a sitting position. “What news? Is he dead?”  
“No, no, we would have told you by now if he was dead!” Callie paused for a moment as she tried to find a way to explain. “The short answer is, your brother is an Agent too.”  
“He is?”  
“Yep! Second year that you were gone, the Great Zapfish got stolen again. Your brother ended up being the one that followed Marie into Octo Canyon and took up the new uniform. He’s Agent 4.”  
3 slowly blinked a few times, then slowly nodded, shifting to lay back down. “That’s… weird to think about. My brother’s always been a wimp--a wimp with minor asthma at that. Never would have thought he’d be my successor.”  
“Marie did say something about his weird heavy breathing,” Callie muttered to herself, recalling a few things that her cousin had told her about Agent 4 until Darwin snapped her out of her memories.  
“Does he still live with mom?”  
“Oh… Sorry, I don’t know. We’re not really in touch with him anymore. Marie mentioned he got more and more distant as time went on. I think it’s been a few months since they last talked.”  
Darwin had started wringing his hands by now, that sick feeling in his stomach quickly getting worse and a lightheaded feeling starting to join it. Begrudgingly, he shuffled the mountain of blankets off of himself, just in case. “If he doesn’t still live there, mom can tell me where he moved. Hopefully he’s still okay.”  
“I could try calling him, if you want?”  
“No, I want to see him in person first.”  
“I won’t mention you.”  
He just lightly shook his head and shut his eyes.  
“... You look a little pale, 3. Are you feeling alright?”  
“Callie, where’s the bathroom...?”  
“Straight shot to your right.”  
Darwin practically threw himself out of bed then, slamming his hands into the bathroom door until he found the knob and swung it open, rushing to hunch over the toilet.  
Callie was quick to look away and try to tune out the horrid vomiting noises, but with how loud they were, it was a tough task. It sounded less like 3 was just throwing up and more like he was hacking up his ink sac. The longer he stayed in the bathroom, the more concerned she got; thankfully, though, he eventually did stumble out of the bathroom, then fell over onto the bed.  
“Rough night?”  
3 just coughed and shook his head. “Something doesn’t feel right… Can you call Marina…?”  
“I’ve only got the number of their booking agent, so I’ll need you to give me her number.”  
He rasped out the string of numbers as Callie tapped each one onto her phone, then held it up to her ear, listening to the tone as she waited for Marina. In the meantime, she turned her head to look at Agent 3 as he laid face-down.  
“Darwin…?”  
Her tone of voice immediately made him nervous, and he slowly raised his head to look back at her. 3 had an idea of what was coming next, and like a Blaster shot through all three of his hearts, it came.  
“Until we can figure out what’s going on, you may be out of commission. I’m sorry.”


End file.
